Ever since Sakumo proposed that all future Night Class sessions be changed to solo operations, the number of injuries among them had increased considerably.
So as not to affect the following day's Day Class, their schedule was changed: from six to eleven at night, they would go out to search for scrolls, then after eleven-thirty, they would return directly to the area around the Central Tower to rest.
Every night at eleven-thirty, Tsunade would be extremely busy. Aside from Hoshi, nearly everyone who returned was injured, and all of them needed Tsunade's Medical Ninjutsu treatment.
Amid such hectic work, Tsunade even surpassed herself and mastered the A-rank Medical Ninjutsu, Mystical Palm Technique, ahead of schedule.
The difficulty of searching for scrolls every night had increased severalfold, yet no one suggested regrouping. They could all feel themselves steadily growing stronger through those frenzied battles.
They learned plenty of new things during the day, then put them directly into practice at night. A vast reserve of ninjutsu, tailored physical training, and nightly life-or-death battles.
With all three combined, Sakumo and the others improved at a rapid pace. Jiraiya and the rest, who had only barely crossed the threshold of chunin strength a year ago, could now be considered Special Jonin.
All six of them had made substantial progress in different areas. Shinku had made up for his taijutsu shortcomings, while Hoshi had mastered quite a few ninjutsu.
Furthermore, Shinku had used the Genjutsu Scrolls collected in the Central Tower to develop quite a few new genjutsu. However, since the beasts in the Forest of Death barely reacted to genjutsu, he had never had the chance to show them off.
He was sure to make his genjutsu shine brilliantly in the upcoming Chunin Exam.
Over that year, Hoshi had also gained some experience